Tagged Argentina

(JTA) — The United Nations said it will hold a global conference of terror victims while commemorating the 25th anniversary of the attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.N. said the aim of the conference will be to come up with concrete recommendations on… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A rabbi in Rosario, the third most populous city in Argentina, was verbally and physically attacked in violence that has been characterized as anti-Semitic. Rabbi Shlomo Tawil, of the local Chabad-Lubavitch organization, was attacked Sunday night by three men in the city center of… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — One of Argentina’s most popular soccer clubs is hosting an exhibition of harrowing stories about the sport from the Holocaust era. “It Wasn’t a Game” (or “No Fue un Juego”) opened last week at the River Plate museum in the team’s stadium building complex… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A cache of 75 original Nazi objects discovered earlier this month by the Argentine Federal Police has been evaluated as “unprecedented” and “the biggest” discovery of its type. The objects, discovered earlier this month in a hidden room of a house in the northern… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Jan. 18, 2015, Argentine terrorism prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in what was almost certainly murder, not suicide. Whoever murdered him didn’t just want to kill him but rather his body of work. They wanted to bury… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — In January 2015, Rabbi Marcelo Polakoff was stuck in Buenos Aires when his phone rang. He’d been planning a trip to New York but a storm had canceled all flights, and Polakoff, the rabbi of Cordoba, a province in central Argentina, was cooling his… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A federal judge in Argentina who has authored a book about the Holocaust was tapped to pick up the late AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s case against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Daniel Rafecas, who has a relationship with the Jewish community, was chosen by… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — On July 18, 1994, a hellish scene unfolded in Buenos Aires as a car bomb set by Iranian agents destroyed the AMIA/DAIA Jewish center, killing 85 people and wounding hundreds. Twenty years later, there is still no justice in the case — and a decision… Read more »

  (JTA) — The World Jewish Congress called on the FIFA world soccer association to hold a tribute to the victims of the AMIA Jewish center terrorist attack before a match between Argentina and Iran at the World Cup in Brazil. A letter sent to FIFA President Joseph Blatter… Read more »

Pope Francis, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, speaking at a B'nai B'rith Argentina event commemorating Kristallnacht, Nov. 12, 2012. (Courtesy B'nai B'rith Argentina)

ROME (JTA) — When the white smoke rose last week at the Vatican, signaling to the world that the College of Cardinals had chosen a new pope, Catholics weren’t the only ones waiting with bated breath. Jews, too, were eager to see whether the new pontiff would be someone… Read more »

Hillel Kuttler's great-great grandmother, Leah Eisen, sitting, poses in her native Lodz, Poland -- but who is standing behind her? (Courtesy Helen Markowitz)

JTA’s new column, “Seeking Kin,” aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) — Thanksgiving brings together families, and this November marked the first anniversary of a personal “Seeking Kin” success. Like all genealogy searches, it yielded ever-more mysteries to crack. I turn now to JTA’s readers… Read more »

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, left, was among those at a Buenos Aires ceremony commemorating the 17th anniversary of the attack on the city's AMIA Jewish center, July 18, 2011. (Leonardo G. Kremenchuzky)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Jewish leaders are doubting the sincerity of an Iranian offer to help solve the Buenos Aires Jewish center bombing, while the Argentine government has welcomed the proposal. Following a ceremony Monday marking the 17th anniversary of the attack on the AMIA Jewish center, which… Read more »

Rabbi Sergio Bergman (with microphone) speaks as he stands with Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri (left) and two other politicians at a May 23 event introducing the PRO party’s candidates for municipal elections. (Eliana Krumecadyk/JTA Photo Service)

Rabbi Sergio Bergman, already one of Buenos Aires’ most prominent spiritual leaders, has become one of the Argentine capital’s most highly visible political candidates. Bergman was tapped by the city’s incumbent mayor, Mauricio Macri, to lead his PRO party’s list for the municipal legislature. As the top candidate on… Read more »

Barry Baker, one of 43 Jewish Federations of North America Young Leadership Cabinet members from around the United States, represented Tucson on a JFNA mission to Chile — its first ever — and Argentina earlier this month. After spending two days in Chile and three in Argentina, Baker told… Read more »

Dawn Hunter (left) and Tandy Kippur in Buenos Aires on Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2011 Lion of Judah mission

Visiting a home for senior citizens may seem an unlikely highlight for a trip to Argentina, a land known for tango, sun and sea. But ask the 11 women who went on the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Lion of Judah mission to Buenos Aires April 3 to 8… Read more »

Many in Latin America and around the world were asking one question following the news that Brazil and Argentina had recognized the state of Palestine in the West Bank: Why now? Among the answers, PLO envoy to Washington Maen Areikat told JTA, was the frustration with the stops and… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Rarely if ever had an Argentinean president praised work done by the Jewish community in front of so many people. An employment program launched more than 35 years ago by AMIA, the main Jewish community organization in Argentina, has been a godsend for thousands… Read more »